It is well known that, during operation, floatplanes, sea planes and amphibious aircraft suffer from an undesirable aerodynamic drag due to the float structure and the floats, the struts and the spreader or spacer bars; said drag generally causing the aircraft to pull nose down.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,271 to Strawn provides one solution to this problem of aerodynamic drag, by disclosing an amphibious aircraft having a float structure with an integrated aerofoil or stub wing.
However, the design of Strawn does not provide a solution for existing airplanes having a traditional float structure; since Strawn discloses an entire amphibious airplane. Furthermore, Strawn's float structure incorporates landing gear, a pair of floats and a stub wing as one integrated unit.
Accordingly, there still exists a need to improve the aerodynamics of existing floatplanes, sea planes and amphibious aircraft without resorting to a replacement of the entire aircraft or of the existing float structure.